Mario Witherspoon, a 29-year-old African American man, was found with a gunshot wound in the backyard of a residence on Rush Wind Drive in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 24, 2019. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded and pronounced him dead at the scene. Authorities opened a homicide investigation into the shooting.

Investigators later identified 55-year-old John Copeland as a suspect. On November 11, 2019, Copeland was located and arrested in Newark, New Jersey after a multi-agency effort; he was charged with Mario Witherspoon’s murder and was pending extradition to North Carolina. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department continued to investigate the circumstances leading up to Mario’s death.

If anyone has information about Mario, his movements on October 24, 2019, or knowledge of the events at the Rush Wind Drive residence, please come forward.